NAFDAC urges vigilance against counterfeit drugs

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control has urged stakeholders in the medicine sales value chain to verify the source of their medical products and obtain receipts for purchases.

This move, it said, aims to combat substandard and falsified medicines, ensuring public safety.

NAFDAC South East Zonal Director, Mr. Martins Iluyomade, emphasized the importance of collective action against counterfeit medicines during a grassroots awareness campaign in Enugu on Monday.

Iluyomade stressed that the fight requires collaboration from all stakeholders, promising tangible results soon.

He said, “Verify the source of medical products and obtain receipts for purchases. Break the culture of silence; report suspicious activities. The fight against counterfeit medicines requires a united front.”

NAFDAC’s efforts, he said, aim to safeguard public health and prevent harmful products from entering the market.

He averred that substandard and falsified medical products pose a major threat to public health and socio-economic development, and Nigeria is not left out.

He explained that substandard medical products are those that have been authorized by national authorities but fail to meet either quality standards or specifications, or both, whereas ‘falsification’ refers to the deliberate/ fraudulent misrepresentation of a drug’s identity, composition, or source.

He added, “The World Health Organization recently estimated that over 10 per cent of medicines in low-middle income countries are SF, with sub-Saharan Africa particularly badly affected.

“All of us have a duty to protect everyone around us against substandard and falsified medicines as we have to think of taking a critical stand against those that engage in the unwholesome practice.

“As I speak, I am sure someone is somewhere still faking medicines, and such injurious medicines find their way into the drug markets and health facilities.

“We should stand against substandard and falsified medicines and report to NAFDAC anyone selling or distributing chalks and other unwholesome substances as medicines.”

Earlier, Enugu State coordinator of NAFDAC, Mr Collins Ogedegbe, said that the sensitisation involved all stakeholders as NAFDAC believes that “it is necessary to engage in continuous dialogue to ensure no link in the medicine supply and sales value-chain is left behind.”

He enthused, “We want to work with everybody as a team and ensure there will be no hiding place for any unwholesome practice within the medicine supply and sales value-chain in Enugu State.”

Chairman of the National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers in Ogbete Main Market (Unit A) Enugu, Mr Oliver Ezemba, lauded NAFDAC as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the sensitisation and enlightenment of NAPPMED members and other stakeholders.

Ezemba noted that it was gratifying that all members of NAPPMED had closed all shops to come and learn as well as ensure they follow due regulations and be more careful as they conduct their medicine sales businesses.

He said, “NAPPMED has been actively partnering with NAFDAC and other agencies or bodies involved in medicine value-chain supply and sales all these years.

“With today’s interface and sensitisation, we will fashion out ways to work closely and by doing that, checkmate all forms of substandard and falsified medicines sales and outlets.

“I sincerely believe that when we collectively do this, we will be safe-guiding the lives of everybody around us.”

Those who attended the sensitisation included community pharmacists, representatives of traditional rulers and community leaders, as well as the media.